Introduction

The previously reviewed Gigabyte cards G1 Gaming GTX 980 and 980 Ti made a good impression the same way Zotac did. Both cards used an effective cooling system. At the time, Gigabyte maintained its card within the two-slot form factor and also used an all-copper plate for the core and VRAMs. The Gigabyte G1 Gaming GTX 1080 uses the brand new GP104 Pascal architecture with the custom cooling and PCB design, along with factory overclock profiles. As you will expect, all of Nvidia AIC partners have okay-to-good-to-best designed cards.

Specification

Chipset

GeForce GTX 1080

Core Clock

Boost: 1860 MHz / Base: 1721 MHz in OC mode

Boost: 1835 MHz / Base: 1695 MHz in Gaming mode

Memory Clock

10010 MHz

Process Technology

16 nm

Memory Size

8 GB

Memory Bus

256 bit

Card Bus

PCI-E 3.0 x 16

Memory Type

GDDR5X

DirectX

12

OpenGL

4.5

PCB Form

ATX

Digital max resolution

7680×4320 (requires 2*DP1.3 connectors)

Multi-view

4

Output

Dual-link DVI-D *1

HDMI-2.0b*1 (Max Resolution: 4096×2160 @60 Hz)

Display Port-1.4 *3 (Max Resolution: 7680×4320 @60 Hz)

Power requirement

500W

Power Connectors

8 pin*1

Card size

H=41 L=280 W=114 mm

Keep in mind that Gigabyte and MSI mention its boost clock first and then its base clock.

Gigabyte G1 Gaming GTX 1080 has two profiles- the by-default enabled gaming profile that provides an additional 86MHz and OC profile with 115MHz bump over the reference’s base clock. The card is a dual slot card with triple fan cooling setup. For those who are interested, you can read up on the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition review.

Packaging

Gigabyte’s G1 Gaming packaging is pretty standard which advertises three of its selling points- the Windforce cooling, GPU Gauntlet and the RGB spectrum colour lighting. While Gigabyte did point out its output options, they haven’t mentioned its clock speed on the box. But there is a QR code so people who are making the last minute no research purchase can get their hands on basic information. G1 Gaming’s accessory box is big, but it comes with a manual and a disc.

No case badge. no added accessories. This accessory box is a troll.

Profile presets

The difference is that Zotac typically sets a single out-of-the-box factory overclock. Gigabyte and MSI include two profiles- gaming and OC mode. The only way to select the product is to use its proprietary software. During the Asus/MSI clock gate controversy, people asked why couldn’t companies have the highest overclocked profiles enabled by default for everyone. It’s a valid question as switching between the profiles knowing that OC profiles provide a higher factory clocks seems redundant.

When I asked if using the OC profile all the time would affect the longevity of the core. They replied:

No, this was not our consideration when we offered 2 modes. It’s purely to offer a good user experience.

The following is the difference between the overclocked profiles:

Reference

Zotac AMP! EXT.

Gigabyte G1 (Gaming)

Gigabyte G1 (OC)

Base

1607

1696 (+89)

1722 (+115)

Boost

1734

1835 (+101)

1860 (+126)

Gigabyte should consider a single factory overclocked profile with the maximum possible setting. The VGA maker brags about its GPU gauntlet which means they use the best ASIC quality chip for this series. That’s all the more reason they can have the highest factory overclock out-of-the-box.

Let’s check out the performance this card offers, and its cooling + manual overclocking potential!